O-Town

Fact Sheet

Musical genre:	Boy band, Pop
Country	USA
Years active	2000-2003

O-Town was a boy band formed from the first series of the MTV-produced reality television series Making The Band, in 2000. The members of the band were Jacob Underwood, Ashley Parker Angel, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, and Dan Miller. After releasing two albums near the end of public interest in the boy band format, O-Town has no future plans to perform concerts or release further albums. In 1999, Lou Pearlman, the man responsible for the formation of the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, embarked on a nationwide talent search, cutting 1,800 auditions in eight cities down to 25 young men, and eventually eight finalists. These eight young men would, as the premise for a new ABC reality show, compete for five spots in Pearlman's newest boy band creation, to be signed to his record label, Transcontinental Records. Midway through the first season, five of the eight were chosen. These five were Underwood, Angel, Estrada, Penick, and a young man by the name of Ikaika Kahoano. Several episodes later, however, Kahoano was forced to choose between the band and his family: he chose his family. Selecting from the group of 25 semi-finalists, the remaining four members of the band chose Miller to be Kahoano's replacement. With the final five members of O-Town in place, Making the Band tracked the development and struggles of the new band.

Brief existence

The ratings of Making the Band were strong enough to warrant second and third seasons, which made O-Town the first cast of a reality TV show to remain the same on a second (and third) season. The additional seasons saw the return of O-Town and continued to track their development as a pop group, following tours, performances, and other seminal events in the band's history. Such events included the development of their second CD, O2, their transition to a new record label, Clive Davis' J Records, and an ongoing struggle to "prove themselves" as legitimate artists. The third and final season of Making the Band was broadcast on MTV, instead of its original network, ABC.

As a band, O-Town enjoyed only mild success. Their first album, the self-titled O-Town, boosted by the publicity of the television series, sold more than two million copies. They also recorded the theme for the Pikachu's Rescue Adventure that was tagged onto Pokémon 2000. The novelty of the band soon wore off, however, and the band never really found the market acceptance they sought; the boy band niche was already largely filled by competitors *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. Making matters even more difficult was the fact that O-Town burst on to the scene when boy bands and other types of bubble gum pop were beginning to decline and lose their influence. Sales of O-Town's second album, O2, were below expectations, and J Records dropped the band from the label.

Dissolution

O-Town understood that gaining a foothold in the music industry would be a challenge, considering the transparent nature of the band's formation. Making the Band had the unfortunate effect of emphasizing the extent to which bands like O-Town were packaged and corporately controlled, facets of the music industry that listeners were not attracted to. At the same time, however, the television show also illustrated the humanity of the band members, showing their struggle for market acceptance and group identity. Though the group released several songs, O-Town was never able to reach the popularity attained by other boy bands of the time.

Though fans tried to organize campaigns to get O-Town signed to a new label, these efforts were met with little success. As a result, the group disbanded late in 2003.

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